Pretti, Alexander Jeffrey

JOURNALISTIC_UNMASKING // THE_HUMAN_COST

THE CASE: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man during protests in Minneapolis on Saturday – just three weeks after the death of Renée Good.

The victim's family has now identified the deceased as Alexander Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a veterans' hospital. Here's what we know so far about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.

Pretti regularly participated in the protests following Renée Good's death on January 7. "He was appalled by what was happening in Minneapolis and the US," his father, Michael Pretti, told the Associated Press. "He thought it was horrific how children were being abducted, how people were simply arrested on the street." His son knew it was wrong, Pretti said, so he joined the protests.

The victim had a firearms license: Alex Pretti was a U.S. citizen, born in Illinois and raised in Wisconsin. He played football and baseball in high school, was a Boy Scout, and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir. After graduating from college in Minnesota, he worked as a research scientist before returning to school to become a nurse. His parents reported that, aside from a few parking tickets, he had never had any contact with the police.

After Pretti's death, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated that he was armed and that the shooting was in self-defense. According to his family, Pretti owned at least one firearm and had a permit to carry it in public. Whether he was actually carrying it on the day he died is unclear.

According to his ex-wife, Rachel N. Canoun, Pretti was a Democratic voter and an active member of the community. He also participated in the demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. She said her ex-husband was someone who might shout at a police officer at a demonstration, but she never witnessed any physical confrontations with him.

Update (2026-29-01): New footage (videos) taken a few days before the fatal incident show Alex Pretti acting aggressively towards I.C.E. officers, verbally abusing and provoking them. However, his family's lawyers say that nothing justified the shooting.

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